


Between the Sun and its Setting

by SoulOfMine



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, Survival, Swan Queen - Freeform, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 01:31:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5951113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulOfMine/pseuds/SoulOfMine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma has been wandering through a wasteland, wondering why she continues to fight, when she finds someone who might be worth fighting with, or maybe fighting for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Sun and its Setting

Emerald eyes opened to an uninterrupted silence, narrowing and widening chipped green and black hues without focus. There was little light, and even less warmth, and as Emma sat up and escaped the hovel in the ground she had spent the night in, she did not look anywhere but south, teetering between where the sun rose, and where it set.

One foot hit ground followed by another in a continuous beat. Broken shoes, met broken glass, and broken feet trodded onwards. Every hill was conquered by an unconscious mind that searched for the sound of consciousness

It was well past dark when a crackle and the soft smell of smoke led off worn pavement and into a small clearing. Shuffling feet dragged tattered clothes into the warm light of the fire and as her body finally gave in, Emma wondered at how life could survive in such complete silence.

* * *

“Wake up DAMMIT!”

Emma was on her feet in seconds monitoring every shade of sound and every inch of the colours spinning around her.

“Emma?” came a tentative word on her left, instinct told her to lunge at all sound, but she couldn't and instead she was face first in the grass, a rope elegantly tied around her ankles.

“How’d you know my name” it came out muffled in the grass, Emma hardly lifting her head enough to make her voice clear

“You wrote it on the only thing in your pack” came a response, “Are you always this idiotic?”

And for the first time Emma was intrigued. This person didn't sound menacing, or at least Emma could hear the fear searching her out from behind every word.

“Do you have water?” It came out of Emma’s mouth instead of retaliation and despite the rebellion bubbling beneath, Emma was too concerned with her desperate need for something cold and wet to really care.

“Don’t you want to know my name?” was the court reply, followed by a metal water bottle, thrown and bouncing to a stop were Emma remained, lying on her stomach in the tall grass.

After chugging the entire contents of the bottle Emma sat up and tossed it back to waiting hands. Watching the figure return the bottle to her pack, Emma took the time to analyze her new acquaintance.

It was a girl, and she looked healthy enough, considering. Her clothes were definitely the cleanest Emma had seen in a while, hardly worn, or bloodied from living among the brush and beasts. Her long brown hair was tied back in a braid, unlike Emma’s wild blonde hair that was matted with leaves, and grass. It took a moment but she could see a knife sheathed on the girls hip, strap open and ready for easy access, the girl was smart at least. But then, she would have to be.

Emma had lost her knife, what would probably be days before, when she had a close encounter with some of them. A mental list checked itself off as she realized she might be in a tighter situation then she thought. She wasn't injured, no bites. Her pack was in reachable distance. She was looking down at her feet when fingers crossed her vision and began untying the ropes.

“It’s Regina” 

“What?” Emma was lost

“My name, it is Regina” the girl looked her up and down before wrapping the rope into a tight knot and tying it to her pack.

“Well that is bloody fantastic” Emma responded with as much sarcasm as she could muster as she stood up, ignoring the eye roll she received in return. 

“If you could just toss me my bag and blanket, I will be on my way” Emma took Regina’s silence as agreement and reached for her bag only for it to be snatched up by Regina who danced away.

“You don't look like you would get very far at all” Regina responded, shoving the worn blanket into Emma’s pack and chucking it at her feet, the sound of empty cans and bottles clanking together as it landed. 

“I would say, you haven't eaten in awhile, which means you probably aren’t from around here” Regina continued.

While Regina had been speaking Emma had steadied herself against a tree with one hand. lifting her pack with the other. Yet, as Regina continued with some nonsense, Emma tilted her head to the side **;** it was distant, but it was loud. 

“Regina we have t’go” Emma had one hand around Regina’s wrist and was dragging her into the trees. “NOW”

“What the hell?” was all Regina could get out before she heard the distinct moaning and shuffling echo through the brush. Immediately gripping Emma’s wrist tightly she veered to the left and dodging down a sloped hill, both muttered the same word, “Corpses”.

Emma wanted to let go the further and further they ran. As nice as Regina seemed, she didn’t know her, she couldn't know where she was leading them both, or whether or not she should trust Regina at all. Instinct told her to run in the opposite direction but an incessant need for companionship Emma didn't even know she had told her to follow Regina, at least for a while. 

The unmistakable sound of bodies carelessly crashing through branches and tripping over roots followed them as they ran. The moans drifting towards them in the otherwise quiet brush, but distancing the further they moved down the slope, and deeper they went into the forest. 

Just as Regina thought they were in the clear, and the sound had died down enough for them to slow their pace, a distinct chorus of moans and crunching of twigs and sticks echoed from ahead, both realizing too late that they had walked straight into another group of corpses. 

Steadying her shaky stance on the uneven ground after she had slid to a stop, her feet tilting from side to side as she tried to gain balance, Emma searched her surroundings for anything she could use as a weapon. Canvassing the bleak supply around her, and opting for an acceptable looking fallen branch over a large rock, as she knew the rock would make a more difficult kill, as close proximity and a lot more effort were required.

Regina on the other hand had slid her knife out of its holster before they had even completely come to a stop. She was searching the surrounding trees for movement as she mentally calculated the quickest way back to the cabin without leading the dead straight to her only safety. 

As the first corpse came close enough to be reached through the trees Regina lurched forward, completely forgetting the presence of her new acquaintance and jabbing her knife into the grey skull twice in quick succession before taking two steps back and allowing the dirty figure to collapse on the ground, her eyes hardly removing themselves from the horizon of trees.

Emma, surprised by the efficiency of Regina’s kill, didn’t wait long before stepping forward and slamming her branch aggressively into the next corpse, nearly decapitating it as it toppled haphazardly against a nearby tree, spraying Emma with blood as it fell. 

The two worked quickly, eliminating 4 more corpses before Emma came to the realization that in her malnourished state she wasn’t going to hold up much longer, let alone make it to safety when there seemed to be both a steady stream of the dead stumbling in from in front and behind. 

“Not that I’m not having fun” Emma heaved the words out as she dodged another corpse, slamming her branch into its legs before ending it in a series of stabs to the head as it hit the ground. “But I don’t think I can do this much longer, and there are too many to put them all down” 

Regina turned her head in time to make eye contact with the girl, surprised at the paleness of her face and the heaving of her chest as she fought. 

“Right sorry” Regina turned her attention back to the incoming corpses, now caught of guard by two who were approaching with equal swiftness on both sides.

“Shit” Regina mumbled under her breath as she attacked the larger of the two, jabbing her knife into its eye socket too hard and finding she couldn’t quite pull it out as the second body collided with her own, sending her hurtling back into a nearby tree. 

Her back connected with the wood with a loud thud and the body was so heavy and so close it took all of her effort to keep one arm against its neck. Jaws snapping close to her face, while the smell of rotting flesh stifled her ability to breath. Her heartbeat rising as fear gripping her though she knew that panic was her worst enemy in these kinds of situations. But suddenly the corpse was being thrown to the side as Emma tackled it, landing with her knees on either side, straddling it as they fell. Immediately Regina stepped forward, stomping her foot hard and spraying Emma as her boot connected with the beast and he halted all movement towards Emma’s now completely exposed frame.

Regina then moved to the side, yanking her knife from the skull of the first dead body just in time to spin her body in a circle before kicking a corpse in the chest, throwing it backwards into a second. 

“Follow” was the only word she spoke before taking off in the same direction they had just been running from.

_Crap_ was all Emma thought at she exhaustingly picked up and threw her branch at an incoming corpse, all in one motion. The wood flying through the air like a spear, the branch penetrated deep enough to hit vital organs, impaling it in the chest, though it continued its steady trudge forward with little hindrance.

Emma exhausted where she stood, took off in the direction Regina had ran in, both afraid she would catch up to the girl, and afraid she would not. 

Conscious that Emma was lagging behind, and with no real need to hurry, Regina ran slowly enough that Emma could catch her, and kept a slow but steady pace as she slammed through the trees.

“Emma! Left!” Regina yelled. Just as the original horde of corpses they had been running from came into view. 

Immediately responding Emma dogged a tree, heading east towards where the sun was still making its way up across the sky. 

“What are we doing” Emma tried to yell, after a long while of running, but she was so exhausted the words came out in huffs of breath as she re-situated herself just to the left of Regina, following her lead as they twisted their way through the thick brush.

“It’s okay, we can slow down” Regina said the words with only a hint of weariness, slowing her pace to a walk and catching Emma completely by surprise. 

“What?” Emma gasped out before almost falling over, leaning against a birch tree for support as she heaved.

“I’m pretty sure the horde from the road will follow the sounds of the one from down by the creek, and they will just end up colliding” Regina spoke matter of factly, pulling her knife out of its holster and cleaning the blade on some of the low hanging leaves, “That is, if they make more noise than you when you run” she finished her sentence with a smirk as she re-sheathed her knife.

“Ha ha” Emma stood up straight, trying to hide the increased dizziness that had her vision blacking in and out and blurring as she spoke, “You try fighting and running after a week and a half without anything to eat, and let's see how you fair”.

Regina looked Emma up and down a second time that day, and holding back another fiery retort motioned forward with her hand, quipping a quick “follow” before setting off south east, as the sun continued its rise just along Emma’s right shoulder.

Emma stumbled through the woods, her head bobbing up and down with exhaustion as her mind melded into a quiet pattern of _left right left right left right,_ as she pushed forward. She was used to walking, and she was used to silence, so it surprised her when Regina began speaking after an hour, even at a low volume.

“Tell me something that will make me trust you” Regina’s words were spoken quickly, but in a hushed tone. Almost pleading, as if practically any reason would be good enough to give the girl at least one person to talk to, to trust.

“I think you’d have to trust me for that to work” Emma responded quietly, more focused on where her feat fell then the woman walking with silent steps. “You’re either going to take a chance or not, and nothing I say will really change your mind, you got it made up already”

“Have” Regina responded on instinct. 

“What?” Emma stumbled over a tree root, tumbling forward only to be caught by a strong grip.

“You _have_ it made up already” Regina corrected softly, before pulling Emma to her feet and remaining closer to the girl as they continued forward, misstepping each time Emma stumbled, ready to stretch out a hand. 

“Why are you doing this?” Emma stopped abruptly before turning to Regina who responded by quirking her mouth to the side. “I could be a cannibal, or a thief ready to cut your throat as you sleep”Emma finished, glaring Regina down as they stood in the silence of the trees.

“Are you any of those things?” Regina questioned pointedly, looking the younger girl up and down before settling for a quite unsettling gaze.

“No” Emma sputtered under her intense gaze, aware that where Regina was hardly dirty at all from the morning's events, Emma was coated with layers of dirt from being on the road, and a fresh layer of splattered insides from their recent encounter.

“Well alright then” Regina held little emotion in her words, and abruptly turned to the left again.

Emma followed silently, barely keeping herself upright before they approached a network of cans strung together that Regina cautiously stepped over. Emma tried to step over in a similar manner, but her feet were so heavy they didn’t make it high enough to clear the string and Emma immediately tripped landing on her stomach next to Regina’s surprisingly fashionable, though now quite dirty, hiking boots. Ready to give up and lay in the dirt till she was swallowed by the darkness that had been threatening her vision since their fight with the corpses, Emma laid her head on the soft dirt, but just as her eyes drifted shut Regina was pulling her up by her arm and pushing her forward. The older woman never letting go of her elbow as they past through another string of cans and a fence made up of sharpened branches, ready to skewer the dead if they came too close. 

Her vision blurring in and out of focus, Emma was hardly able to note the clearing, and log cabin that they stumbled towards. Blacking out completely as Regina began dragging her up the steps and into a nicely furnished living room where she was deposited on the softest sofa she had slept on in months.

**Author's Note:**

> Good day to anyone reading this! I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to tell me any things you would like our two ladies to get into, whether that is staying in the woods? Or moving to a more populated area? Or having to travel along the road? Next chapter I’m hoping to do some backstory, where we find out how long they’ve been on their own, what happened to their families and the like. Cheers!


End file.
